Ceri Jayes, of Lower Warren Road, Kingsbridge, writes:

The red, white and blue copy of Europe and You plopped onto our doormat. I assumed that the Union flag colours must herald that David Cameron had negotiated an EU deal that would restore our national sovereignty, give us the power to pass our own laws and be proud to be British.

The front page heralded that ‘Your vote will decide your family’s future’. So far, so good.

I settled down to read the page headed ‘Make sure you know the facts about this referendum’. The first point told me that ‘independent experts estimate the benefits are worth £3,000 a year to the average household’. The single source cited for this statement is the Confederation of British Industry.

Our household would be ­better off by £3,000? Really? It sounded too good to be true, so I decided to check out ‘the facts’.

I found out that Patrick Worral, of Channel 4’s Fact Check, looked into this claim when it was made in 2013. He stated: ‘This very precise ­number is not based on any real evidence.’

I dug deeper. Any company or person receiving EU funding is obliged to present the EU in a positive light, or the funding is cancelled.

It emerged in November 2015 that the CBI has received £1m from the EU since 2009 and another £5.4m from ­taxpayer-funded quangos.

Also, in November last year an inquiry was launched by the British Polling Council into the CBI’s poll. The poll had given the impression that eight out of 10 businesses are opposed to leaving, when in fact the CBI had self-selected its sample from its own generally larger company membership and ignored the 80 per cent or so of small- and medium-sized ­businesses, which are the very ones most oppressed by Brussels’ legislation and red tape.

I had read enough. The ‘facts’ did not stand up to scrutiny. My copy of Europe and You was consigned to the bin.

We must have accurate, ­balanced and impartial ­arguments so we can make the judgement on how to vote to decide our families’ futures.

The Britain Stronger In Europe (BSE) Campaign has spent an estimated £1.5m on posting out this inaccurate information. I was in research mode, and so delved deeper into the ­symptoms of BSE.

I found out that it attacks the brain and leads to a lack of coordination, detachment from reality and an increase in aggression. There is no cure.

Well, at least the symptoms are true to form.